- Release Date : September 1st 2015
- Genre : Contemporary
- Pages : 320
- Publisher : Delacorte Books For Young Readers
To Madeline Whittier the world is a stranger. She suffers from a rare illness that makes her allergic to…everything. She has classes, the internet and mom to keep her connected, but when a troubled family with a curious boy moves next door she realizes she could have more.
I went into this novel thinking it would focus on a romance between Olly and Maddy, but the story focuses more on Maddy’s coming-of-age. For me this book was all about Maddy and the romance didn’t quite do it for me. I was more drawn to how Yoon wrote Maddy’s inner conflicts. As the reader you know the risks she takes to be normal are bad for her, but you still want her to take the chance.
This book used more than prose to tell the story; we get e-mails, illustrations, snippets from Maddy’s book blog, and IMs. I think we are starting to see more mixed medium novels like this, they are sort of a modern twist on the epistolary novel. I tend to stay away from stories written all in IM so I liked how this was a blend. I’m actually curious what the word length of the prose is in this book. The way the story eventually plays out I kept thinking this would have made a great YA short story.
Maddy has a strong connection with books and runs a book blog so in a way this book is set up to be a book blogger’s book. The ending I think will also give you a little to think about
In the spirit of nothing exist in a vacuum I have to say that I was surprised when reading the acknowledgments that this book was done in conjunction with Alloy books. In the past I haven’t had great experiences with their books and this one stood out among the rest.
A little bit romance, a lot of coming of age. Everything, Everything is an enjoyable book to throw in your bag for an end of the summer read. I can’t wait to see what Yoon comes up with next.
Side Note
Can I say how great the title of this book is ? I mean it’s made for positive reviews. It’s like a drinking game to find a review that say this book has “Everything, everything” or (as I was tempted to do) that Madeline learns she can have “everything, everything”
Also that comma in the title is going to make this book hard to search for.
1/2 of the blogging duo at Books and Sensibility, I have been blogging about and reviewing books since 2011. I read any and every genre, here on the blog I mostly review Fantasy, Adult Fiction, and Young Adult with a focus on audiobooks.